


Draw The Curtains, Take The Stage

by fabuloushazza



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 19:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4276071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fabuloushazza/pseuds/fabuloushazza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis and Harry thought about their soulmates from time to time, but mainly focused on what they were passionate about. If only they knew that their passions would help them find out that their soulmates were closer than they thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Draw The Curtains, Take The Stage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brbhoran (harrylouiz)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/harrylouiz/gifts).



> Hi! I really loved writing this fanfic, and I hope you all enjoy it! Thank you to the people who started this exchange for this amazing opportunity. Thank you to Cece for being my beta reader. By the way, the title is a lyric from "Swan Song" by Set It Off.

Ever since he was a kid, Harry Styles has always wanted to give people some form of entertainment. He would always dance around the house and sing along to whatever song was playing on the radio in the car, pretending he knew all of the words even if he didn't.

He didn't really get serious about being a performer until he was about twelve. Around that time, he had been in a few local bands that weren't very successful, but still weren't terrible either.

Harry realized at around the age of fifteen that writing music isn't what he wanted to be doing. He also had a passion for acting, but he didn't want to leave his passion and love for music behind.

He decided to take a musical theatre camp the summer before his very first year at uni.

"This can help be become a better actor, and it can give me hope for having an acting career in the future," Harry thought to himself.

Of course, he knew about the whole soulmate tradition and how big of a deal it was to most of the people he knew. He wondered about having a soulmate and what the whole experience would be like. He wondered about what his soulmate would look like. He wondered about what their personality would be like. He wondered about what it would be like to go on a date with them. He wondered about what their first date would be. He wondered about what his wedding with them would be like. He wondered about what his honeymoon with them would be like. He wondered about what the rest of his life would be like when he found his soulmate.

He wondered about anything and everything that could happen once he found out who his soulmate was, but didn't worry about it too much. It never phased him. All he wanted to do was entertain people in some way and focus on that for the rest of his life. He just wanted to live his dream. That's all he wanted to do for however long he lived. Was that too much to ask?

His family and friends were always asking him about considering a different career. What felt worse than having people who didn't support what you loved? Well, nothing else felt worse than that to Harry. All he wanted was to do what he loved and what made him happy. All he wanted was to chase his dreams and see what happened, even if a career in acting, theater, or drama didn't exactly work out the way he planned it to.

Harry tried not to take criticism to heart, but he did. He tried not to let it bother him, but he did. He tried to ignore it, but he can't. He just can't help it sometimes. Every single little comment or remark tore him down a bit and lowered his self esteem, even in the slightest. Nobody realized it. Nobody even took the time to notice that. Nobody realized that acting was Harry's only escape from reality.

Louis Tomlinson had always been a shy person, even in his younger years. The only time he would sing, if he did at all, was softly to himself late at night when every other member of his family was asleep, which was rare, or sometimes in the shower. Singing was something that he considered his "hidden" or "secret" talent, since nobody else knew about it but him.

Although Louis always came off as shy at first, acting helped him come out of his shell. Through acting, he was able to express himself in a way that words couldn't. Louis was also very interested into writing, and that interest grew as the years went by. He was still as interested in theatre as he was for all these years, and dreamed that he would be able to write a script for a play one day, all on his own. Sure, it would be tough. Sure, it would take a lot of work. Yet, Louis was determined to make it happen. Now all he needed to do was find someone to be the star of his own original work.

≫≫≫≫≫

"Have fun at theatre camp, Louis!" Louis' mother exclaimed.

Louis was tempted to roll his eyes. His mother never showed up to any play that he has been in, whether it be a small part, an extra in the background, or even a leading role. None of his family members ever showed up. Ever. Louis thought they never would and assumed that they didn't care about his acting dreams and the career that was soon to come of it one little bit.

"Have fun with your soulmate!" Fizzy, one of Louis' younger sisters, shouted while making a kissy face just to annoy the crap out of Louis.

Instead of getting annoyed, Louis actually laughed because Fizzy was only a little girl and didn't know much about romance yet. Like her other siblings, she didn't know much about the soulmate tradition, except for the fact that it existed and that it involved tattoos.

"Fizzy, sweetie, Louis doesn't get his tattoo for another week or so. Well, he isn't supposed to get it until then, at least, but it could happen sooner or later. However, he most likely won't meet his soulmate for a long time," his mother whispered to Fizzy.

Fizzy shrugged her shoulders and mumbled "It could happen."

"What did you say, Mum?" Louis asked curiously.

"Oh, nothing," Louis' mum said innocently, "Now, you should probably get going. You don't want to be late on your first day, do you?"

Louis shook his head no, grabbed all of his luggage, and got into the car. He waved goodbye to his family and began to drive away.

≫≫≫≫≫

"This must be the place," Harry said to himself, looking out of the window as he drove down the road and saw a sign.

He looked around for a place to park his car until he found an empty spot with just enough space to park it.

"I can't be late. I can't be late. I can't be late."

Harry repeated that to himself over and over.

He was never late to a single thing in his life, whether it be a concert, a musical theatre performance, or just another day of school.

He absolutely wasn't going to break that streak. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.

Harry sighed and stepped out of his car, grabbing his luggage and rushing to the campsite.

He walked around and did not see a single person at the campsite.

"What the hell?" he asked himself, trying to be quiet, "Where is everybody?"

Harry continued to walk around until he saw a shadow by one of the buildings.

"Thank goodness," Harry said to himself, sighing of relief, "Finally, I found somebody."

Harry ran towards the person, unaware of his surroundings or where he was going, and accidentally bumped into them.

Harry looked up, suddenly realizing what he had done.

"Oops," he mumbled.

Harry was always awkward and a little nervous when it came to meeting new people, and he never really knew exactly what to say to them.

"Hi," the person said.

"Look, I didn't mean to bump into you. It was just an accident, I swear. I guess I'm just a little clumsy. Okay, maybe I'm really clumsy, but that's not the point. What I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry that it happened in the first place," Harry explained, speaking as quickly as he could so he could get the apology out of the way and ask this boy for help.

"It's all good, don't worry about it," the boy told him, "I never got your name, by the way. What was it again?"

"I'm Harry," Harry said shyly.

"Louis Tomlinson," the boy replied, "What's your last name?"

"Styles," Harry explained, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, none of my other roommates are here yet. It gets a little bit lonely waiting out here by yourself," Louis said, "Don't you agree, Styles?"

Harry nodded his head in agreement.

"Does that mean that I'm your roommate?" Harry asked with a look of curiosity on his face.

"Yes you are. Well, you're one of them. I have two others, but they're not here yet," Louis answered.

"Okay then," Harry said, "I need to figure out what's going on at this camp and when it starts and -"

"Calm down, Harry. There is no need for you to worry about all of this right at this very moment," Louis replied, "I can take you to our room and you can get settled in. Does that sound good to you?"

Harry nodded his head yes in agreement.

"Alright. Let's go, then," Louis said to Harry.

With that, Louis ran towards his and Harry's room with Harry following him from behind, trying to catch up.

≫≫≫≫≫

"You can just put your luggage right there for the time being," Louis said, pointing to the floor.

"Okay. Wait, you're not a neat freak or anything, are you?" Harry asked.

"No, I'm not," Louis answered, laughing, "I'm actually quite the opposite, if I'm being completely honest with you."

"That makes things easier for me, then," Harry said to himself.

He heard a knock on the door.

"Don't worry, Haz, I'll get it," Louis told him.

"Haz?" Harry asked, confused.

"It's my new nickname for you. Unless you don't really want me to call you Haz, of course, then I can just call you Harry," Louis answered.

"Either one is fine by me," Harry said.

Louis smiled and opened the door to see two boys, one with blonde hair and another with brown hair, who were both just slightly taller than him waiting outside.

"Finally," the blonde boy said as he immediately walked inside.

"Thanks, Louis," the brown-haired boy said as Louis welcomed him inside.

"Harry, these are our other roommates. Liam, Niall, meet Harry," Louis explained, introducing everybody to each other.

"Nice to meet you," Liam, the brown-haired boy, said, shaking Harry's hand in a polite fashion.

"You too," Harry said shyly.

"We should probably get to know each other, since we'll be living in the same place for the next couple months and all that," Niall suggested.

"Good idea," Liam added, "So let's just say our name, age, what soulmate tattoo we have, and why we came to this theatre camp in the first place."

"I'll start," Niall said excitedly, "I'm Niall, I'm twenty, my tattoo is just a small music note that is barely visible, and I came here to pursue a career in directing.

"I'm Liam, I'm twenty-two, my soulmate tattoo is four arrows all pointing in the same direction, and I came here to learn more about being a director."

Liam looked to his right and waited for Harry to speak.

"Oh, I guess I'm next," Harry said nervously, "I'm Harry, I'm twenty-one, my soulmate tattoo is the word 'hi' and I came here because I wanted to pursue acting. I'm more into musical theatre, but I don't mind acting without singing, I guess."

"I'm Louis, I'm twenty-three, I haven't gotten my soulmate tattoo yet and I'm here for acting as well, but I want to be a scriptwriter."

"Have you ever written a play before?" Niall asked.

"Oh, yeah. Definitely. I've been writing scripts since I was about ten, I think," Louis answered.

"That's actually quite impressive," Liam said, "Have you shown your plays to anybody?"

"Absolutely not. They weren't even that good to begin with," Louis replied.

"Come on, Louis," Harry told him, "Don't doubt yourself. I barely know you and I haven't read a single word of any of the scripts you've written, but I am sure that your plays are better than you think."

"You're just saying that," Louis said, blushing.

"I would not have said it if it was not true," Harry replied with a smile, putting his hand on Louis' shoulder.

"I've heard a little rumor going around that Zayn Malik is actually teaching here," Liam said.

"Wait, what?" Louis asked.

"Are you serious?" Niall asked, chiming in to the new conversation.

"Apparently he's really strict," Harry said, "or so I've heard, at least."

"Well, he thinks his students are tough to work with," Louis added.

"I wouldn't necessarily call him strict over something like that," Liam explained to Louis.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out tomorrow," Louis said.

"Louis and I are both doing acting, so we'll see what happens tomorrow morning," Harry added.

"Yeah. For now, let's just focus on getting settled in and getting to know each other better," Liam suggested.

And that's how Liam, Louis, Niall, and Harry spent the rest of the day.

≫≫≫≫≫

Louis got up in the middle of the night all of a sudden because he could've sworn that he heard something. That "something" didn't exist. However, something did happen to him.

Louis got his soulmate tattoo.

He didn't know what to do, or who his soulmate was.

Liam seemed like the smart one, based on their conversations from earlier. Although Louis didn't want to disturb anybody, he didn't want this situation to bother him for the rest of the night or even for a few days.

"Liam," Louis whispered, trying to wake him up.

Liam, who was sound asleep and had absolutely no plans of waking up or being woken up anytime soon, did not answer, just like Louis had assumed.

"Liam," Louis said a little bit louder.

Once again, Liam did not respond.

Louis rolled his eyes in frustration and ran to his room to grab a piece of paper and a pen.

I have something important to tell you and I really need your advice. Yes, I am aware that I only met you in person hours ago, but I trust you. Let me know when you read this note. Sleep well. -Louis

Louis ran back to his room and grabbed a piece of tape and then ran back to Liam's room and taped the piece of paper to Liam's dresser, hoping that he would read it as soon as he woke up the next morning.

Louis sighed and walked back to his room, knowing that he would only get a few hours of sleep, if he got any, when he had this dilemma going on and just the thought of the confusion of it practically taking over his mind.

≫≫≫≫≫

Louis was right. He didn't get any sleep. There were bags under his eyes, which could barely stay open for even a second, and he felt like he was going to immediately pass out and fall asleep at any moment. That's what overthinking can do to a person - it can play such a major role in their life that it takes over and can mentally and possibly physically exhaust them.

He didn't know why he was overthinking about this situation in the first place. He knew all along that he was going to have a soulmate at some point in his life, but he didn't know what his tattoo would be until now. Out of all the tattoos in the world, what could possibly match the word "oops" in some stranger'a handwriting? Well, none that Louis could think of.

He heard someone walk by and realized it was Harry.

Harry had nearly the same problem as Louis. He was fine with the fact that he had a soulmate tattoo - it was a tradition and a part of his life, after all - but he didn't know what would match the word "hi" in the handwriting of who knows who, nor did he know who his soulmate could possibly be. He couldn't control who his soulmate was, it was out of it hands.

Harry snapped out of his thoughts and tapped Louis on the shoulder.

Louis turned around and panicked for a second, realizing that Harry was right in front of him.

"Harry, you scared the crap out of me," Louis said, letting out a sigh of relief when he found out it was Harry and not some stranger who could've snuck into their house.

"I'm sorry, Louis. I didn't mean to."

Harry spotted something on Louis' arm.

"Louis," Harry said, "What are you hiding from me? Are you sure you're really alright?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Louis replied.

"You're hiding something from me. I can tell, " Harry told him.

"It's my soulmate tattoo," Louis said, sighing, "I didn't really want to show anybody until I at least found out the significance of the tattoo or who my soulmate could be."

"Louis, let me tell you something," Harry replied, "I'm going to be one hundred percent honest with you when I say this. I got my soulmate tattoo a couple years ago. I didn't pay much attention to it. I know, I know, it's an important part of everybody's lives now, but in all honesty, I didn't really give a crap. I didn't want to worry about who my soulmate was or what my tattoo meant either, but I did. I worried about it, and I still worry about it to this day. I was sick of it. I was sick of constantly worrying about it all the time. So, I try not to think about it too much."

"What's your soulmate tattoo?" Louis asked.

"It's the word 'hi' in somebody else's handwriting," Harry answered.

"What's supposed to match it?" Louis asked, trying to think of an answer to his own question.

"I have absolutely no idea. I don't know what on Earth could possibly match mine either," Harry said, shrugging his shoulders, "What's yours?"

"It's the word 'oops' in some stranger's handwriting. Like I said before, I have no idea what could match it," Louis explained.

If only they knew that their soulmates were closer then they thought.

≫≫≫≫≫

Harry sighed.

"Today was not a good first day," he thought to himself.

Maybe Zayn was right.  
Maybe he wasn't the best student. Maybe he wasn't a "proper" actor. Maybe he wasn't doing anything right.  
Maybe he wasn't destined to be an actor.   
Maybe his dream wouldn't come true after all.

Harry walked back to his house and sulked. Sure, he had doubted himself before. A lot of performers doubt themselves at some point in their career.

There are two types of criticism in the world - the type that helps you and the type that can hurt you.

The type that is meant to help you is constructive criticism - the type of criticism a choir or drama teacher would give their student.

The other type of criticism was the type that could hurt people - if they choose to let it hurt them, that is.

This type of criticism is the type of criticism that people tell themselves - like "you're not a good enough actor" or "you can't reach that high note because you can't sing."

People can soon become so used to this criticism and self-doubt that they start to believe all the negative things that they have been told.

Harry chose to let both types of criticism get to him. He just felt that he wouldn't be able to fix what he needed to fix in order to avoid getting constructive criticism.

All of this just went on in his mind up until one thing - well, one person - in particular interrupted his thoughts.

Louis.

Louis had Zayn as a teacher as well, just not until later in the day.

He could only imagine what would happen to Louis and how he would deal with everything that was about to happen.

Harry tried to push that negative thought away and decided to just go and talk to Louis.

No, he wasn't going to warn Louis about what happened with Zayn. Louis would probably think he was being ridiculous. He was just going to simply talk to him, have a normal conversation.

Maybe that would get all the negativity out of his mind.

≫≫≫≫≫

By the time Harry had gotten to his house, Louis had already left for Zayn's class.

Harry couldn't help but worry about what was going to happen. He only knew Louis for a day, but felt like he has known him for a really long time - like their friendship was meant to be.

He hoped that Louis didn't get any constructive criticism, or that he wouldn't let it hurt him if he did.

Harry saw the note that Louis had left on the kitchen counter saying that he would be back around three 'o'clock. 

He noticed that Louis' handwriting had looked strangely familiar.

"Why would his handwriting look familiar?" Harry asked himself in his mind, "I only just met him yesterday and had never seen his handwriting until now."

Harry sighed and looked at his tattoo, thinking about what he would want in a soulmate. That's when he finally recognized the handwriting. He saw that the handwriting of his own soulmate tattoo and the handwriting of the note that Louis had left were both identical. He finally figured it out. Louis was his soulmate. 

≫≫≫≫≫

Louis walked in the house on the way home from class when he saw Harry sitting at the kitchen table with a pen, post-its, and a huge packet of paper - which turned out to be one of the scripts he had written.

"What do you think you're doing?" Louis asked sternly.

Harry turned around.

"I'm not making changes to your scripts, I swear," Harry said.

"Then what are you doing with them?" Louis asked.

"You'll see in a little bit. Just you wait, Louis. Just you wait," Harry said with a smirk.

Louis walked away and rolled his eyes, walking back upstairs to his room.

About ten minutes later, Harry finished writing what he had planned and couldn't wait to show Louis what he had done.

He immediately marched upstairs to Louis' room and knocked on his door.

Louis, still with an angry expression on his face, opened the door to see Harry standing right in front of him with one of his scripts, a pencil, and post-its.

"What did you do?" Louis asked.

"Here you go," Harry said, handing Louis the script he had written on.

Louis didn't say anything back and just flipped through the packet of papers, looking at the post-its and what was written on them.

Great job, Louis! :-)

You should really consider this as a career, this is really well written!

-Harry

Louis' eyes widened from the shock of what he had just seen.

"You actually liked what I wrote?" Louis asked.

"Yeah," Harry answered, "You're a really good writer, Louis. Don't ever doubt yourself."

Louis smiled.

He looked back at the handwriting on the post-its and saw that it had looked familiar to him. He knew it. That handwriting was the same handwriting as his soulmate tattoo. This could only mean one thing. Harry was Louis' soulmate.

"Can I ask you something?" Harry asked.

"Sure, go right ahead," Louis answered

"When you went to Zayn's class, did you by any chance get any criticism?" Harry asked.

His heart was beating rapidly at just the thought of Louis possibly feeling the same way that he did.

"No, I didn't," Louis answered, confused, "Why do you ask?"

"I knew it!" Harry shouted, looking at the ground and throwing the script on the floor.

"What happened? Is everything okay, Haz?" Louis asked with a look of concern on his face.

"No. Zayn gave me criticism, and I don't handle criticism well. I've had a lot of doubts about having a career in acting, and whenever someone tells me one little comment, whether it's about me not being a good actor or me not reciting the line correctly, my self-esteem goes down a bit," Harry explained.

"Well, if someone says you're not good enough, don't believe them because you are good enough. I may not have seen you act, but I believe that you can do this. Don't let any criticism tear you apart. Don't believe anything negative from anybody. If it helps, I believe in you. Just remember that."

"Thanks, Louis," Harry said, trying to prevent the tear in his eye from falling down his face.

"No problem," Louis replied, putting his arm on Harry's shoulder.

There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them.

"I have an idea!" Louis exclaimed.

"What does this have to do with Zayn's class?" Harry asked.

"Let me explain first. We're supposed to show a play or monologue or something as our audition for the play we're doing. I think you're a good actor, and you think I'm a good scriptwriter. Maybe we could take one of my plays, recite it, get it on video, and show it to Zayn. That way, he will see how good you really are," Louis told Harry. 

"Do you really think it will work?" Harry asked.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try," Louis said, "So, what do you say? Are you in?"

"I guess we could give it a try," Harry asked.

"That's the spirit!" Louis exclaimed.

≫≫≫≫≫

Louis and Harry stayed up late every night practicing for their audition. The script that they agreed to do was a cheesy romance that Louis had come up with a few years ago, around the time Harry had gotten his soulmate tattoo. When they got to the kissing scene, they kissed each other without hesitation. 

When they took their final bow on stage at that theatre camp, Louis had whispered to Harry, "We did it."

Harry had replied, "I couldn't have done it without you." 

They were a perfect match - and not just because they were soulmates. They were truly meant for each other.


End file.
